In the automobile industry, for example, control valves and/or thermal valves are often used in combination with heat exchangers to either direct a fluid to a heat exchanger unit to be cooled/heated, or to direct the fluid elsewhere in the fluid circuit within the automobile system so as to “bypass” the heat exchanger. Control valves or thermal valves are also used within automobile systems to sense the temperature of a particular fluid and direct it to an appropriate heat exchanger, for either warming or cooling, to ensure the fluids circuiting through the automobile systems are within desired temperature ranges.
Traditionally, control valves or thermal bypass valves have been incorporated into a heat exchange system by means of external fluid lines that are connected to an inlet/outlet of a heat exchanger, the control valves being separate to the heat exchanger and being connected either upstream or downstream from the heat exchanger within the external fluid lines. These types of fluid connections require various parts/components which increase the number of individual fluid connections in the overall heat exchange system. This not only adds to the overall costs associated with the system, but also gives rise to multiple potential points of failure and/or leakage. Size constraints are also a factor within the automobile industry with a trend towards more compact units or component structures.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved heat exchanger assemblies that can offer improved connections between the control valves and the associated heat exchanger, and that can also result in more compact, overall assemblies.